KRAUSI, SDflABD A* INTJJSVIJB? ?7f8

409

SMKJSI, 2DIABD A , VfOBRfl^^ 9796- 8 -

Form A-(S-UO) 4 1 0BIOGRAPICY FCHM

WOlcKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATIONIndian-Pioneer His tory Pro jec t for Oklahoma

Field Worker's name Sllgabeth L» Duncan

This report made on (date) Jaaiary 13 ^ 195

1. Name Bdward JU Krause

2. Post Office Address Benfrow, Oklahoma

3. Residence address (or location) On Main Street

4. DATE OF BIRTH: ' Month January ^ Day ' SI year 1 8 7 2

5. Place of b i r th - Potosi, Grant Oounty, Wisconsin.

6. Name of Father Carl John Krause p i a c c o f b i r t h Berlin,0€rmany

Other information about father &• D« Surgical •

7. Name of MotherM"^ SulH^n _ _ _ _ _ Place of bsrth O l o s e t 0

oi" ii i l iamey, Ireland, MunsOther information about moth^ She had seen the Queen Victoria,

Notes or complete narrative by the i ic ld worker dualmtr with the l i f e andstory of the person interviewed. Rof^r to Manual for sa^.-csi-ed subjectsand questions. Continue on blank she<"t^ if necessary and attach firmly tothis form. Number of sheets attached

411

KRAOSfc, EDWARD A. INTERVIEW, 9798

E l i z a b e t h L* DuncanJournalistJanuary 13 9 1938

Interview with Edward A- Krauae,Renfrow, Q&Lahoma*

I was born in Potosi, Grant County, Wisconsin, of

Carl John Krause and Mary Sullivan Krause. I was quite a

restless sort of a person, moring from one place to another

until I settled on a forty acre farm close to Hickman,

Nebraska, where my mother and father died after, which the

children! scattered here and there, each fighting his own

battles* I finally want to Lincoln, Nebraska, to stay with

my sister who was married.

About 1891, word was passed along that the Strip was

to be opened for homesteaders, so the people bsgan to prepare

to com© to the new country, but they had not heard whether

or not Hoke Siaith had really signed the bi l l so the rumor

was not verified until two years la ter ,

Tom Oox, my brother-in-law, suggested that we try our

hand at i t ao he asked for a few days off from his job, he

was a 8tone-cutter, and bought a new spring wagon,. I bad the

horoes* We prepared to come, bringing with us baled hay,

enough food and two large milk cans to put water in* When

41)

XHAU8S, KDWARD A. IH73HVIE1* 9798

2

we arrived tn Galdwell there were a l l kinds of people, as

for as a person could see people were camped waiting far the

day of the Opening* There were a l l classes of people and

i t was a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw the

town of Caldwell and the boundary line of Kansas and Okla-

homa, even along the line extending east of Caldwell and

west. A person simply eanft explain OP begin to te l l the

sight unless feey have seen something like i t .

When we arrived i t was the 9th day of September and

before we really got where i t was even beginning to look

\ ltke we could get to register we had to stay in line night

and day* I t was miserable, the dust where people stood was

ankle deep and we hart to pay five and ten oents for a cup

of anddy water until they registexed the 12th day of

September, at 9 o'clock.

In the afternoon of the 12th we went ten miles west

of Caldwell to sake the Ron, we came across a farmer that

was letting the people who would pay a dollar each in on

his place* We went in and told him we were from Nebraska*

The old farmer told as that there were some other fellows

oamped on hid place who were from Nebraska* We went on down

, SDWARD A. INTERVIEW. 9798

where the other campers were and when I got out of my wagon

and walked over to the other campers t o see i f I knew any ^/

of them, when to ny su rp r i se there stood my bro ther , Jim.

Krause, Ghrise Larson and Jake Bertram; we r e a l l y had a

wonderful get together* The other boys were on horseback,

so they asked Tom and me i f they a l l got new spades would we

carry them on the wagou. The spades were then purchased,

f i r e new ones*

Wh'-n the day arr ived sfaere the Opening was to take

plaoe we boys, were a l l eag^r to be on our way* At 10:15, we

had dinner together and got th ings a l l in shape so we could

be there ea r ly enough to ge^ i n the front ranks* but when

we reached our s t a r t i n g point-we found t h a t i t was s ix teen

deep, t ha t threw us awajf tb the back but as the hour ap-

proaehed people began to t a l l back, thus pushing us forward

u n t i l we were r i g h t i n fifont* So many people began to fear

tha t they would he in danger of beinr, hur t* As the hour

approached the :pe <ple began to s e t t l e down with a grim de-

termination t h a t each' was going to stake a homestead*

I wes d r iv ing when the s igna l was given, the spotted

coach dog t h a t I owned was s i t t i n g on t e sea t beside me,

Tom Cox was s i t t i n g on the hay i n the back and when osoh of

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KBAUSE, EDWARD A. INTERVIEW, 9V98

the boys stopped to s take h i s "laim Tom would throw a spade

out to him* When I came to a small oreek I t r i - 'd to slow

the horses down bat t a t WBS Impossible , BO w ^ n the f ront

wheels h i t tise embankment i t almost upset the wagon. Tom

was thrown o lear over a> head, landing between the norses

but lu"k was with u s , th^ horses were wall t ra ined or Tom

might have been se r ious ly h u r t . Tom got up r i - h t quldc

and olImbed i n t o th« wagon and we went on our way, I f i n a l l y

stopped the wagon, grabbed a spuds, ran about t h i r t } rods

and began to spade up the ea r th but i t was so t e r r i b l y d ry ,

as the l e s t r a i n had been i n June* Tom went the opposite

d i r e c t i o n doing the same t h i n g , spading up the e a r t h .

Jus t as I had turned around to see who was l oca t i ng

on west of me, a r i d e r jumped off of h i s ho r se , while r i d i n g

a t a good r a t e of speed, kne l t down bv t^e sid* of the mound

of ea r th I had oug up, picked up a hand f u l l and said to me,

"Say, fel low you r o t some good wheat land*" Then he jumped

on h i s horse and was gone on h i s *?ay to h i s goa l .

I t was twenty-two minutes a f t e r twelve o ^ l o o k when

I staked my claim, then Tom and I began t o look for the

corner s t o n e s . On the south s i d e of my place I found a

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KRAUSE, BDYfARD A, DmHVIW. 9798

5\

woraan had staked und to ld her she was on my o lace . She

told me she would l i ke to s tay and see for sure and i f she

was on my place she would give up, Tom and I resumed our

search and found the corner e toaes , my place being the NW

6-12-28 and Tom's the SW£ 1-12-23,

The food suppl ies vrere ver\ lowft so Tom s a i d ' I could

gp back to Oaldwell to g«t ,iaore suppl ies ana he would wait

for t r e other boys. 1 went to get my suppl ies an:! s t r t e i

back but by the t nie I WAS p r e t t y vtell on my way back i t

had got ten p r e t t y aark and * l o s t my d i r e c t i o n . In otb^r

words I was l o s t , so I camped for the a i g h t . The next

morning I heard th ree shots in succession then three more.

I began to follow the sho t s and soon joined the others* ^e

had previously agreed tha t «hen any of us thought t h a t one

of the others was l o s t , they would shoot th ree shots in

success ion, Jake Bertrum, Jim Krause, Chrise Larson spaded

some sod on my place tho r e s t of the day.

The next day we a l l s t a r t e d for Snid to f i l e , out

when we f i n a l l y reached the re and secured a number Tomfs

number was 7335 and mine was 7333, tha t meant we had a .long

wait aheed of u s . We wore p re t ty lo* on money for we had

j u s t brought so much and knew i t was up to us to earn some

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KRADS3, SDWARD A, INTERVIEW. 9798

money somehow* I said to Tom, "Why doaH we iput another

Beat on t h i s wagon and run a hack '? And tha t :te whet we

d i d . How I came to thtnJc of t h i a was tha t South Said was

a Government town and $orth Enid was a r a i l road town and

the two plaeee were havjlog some p r e t t y s t i f f spats* The

th i rd day a f t e r we were; in Snid we began to haul p^tesengere

from one place to another, charging each person 50?*

About a week l a t e r we made a t r i p down in to Old Okla-

homa, looking the country over but soon returned t o ^Jiid be-

cause we were afraid rm might lose out* I t was not very long

u n t i l we got to f i l e , but we did not go r l -ht back to our

homesteads, we continued hauling for a while , then a f t e r about

a couple of weeks went back t o our homes*eads* The 30th

day of October, Tom "anjd I s t a r t e d for Lincoln, Nebraska, ao

we could be ready to come tiom i n the spring on our homesteads*

The following spr ing , Tom decided he would t r y t o buy

a farm south of Enid BO he made a t r i p ahead of me down i n

south of Snid. He f i n a l l y bought a farm t h i r t e e n miles south

of Snid, and two car loads of s tock and machinery were sent to

Hennessey* I a l s o had some t h i n g s , two head of horses , a

plow, harrow, and cu l t iva to r* After the car was shipped to

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KRAUSE, BD9IARD A. INTERVIEW. "/ 9798

Hennessey I Bet out for xay homestead © I t took' m© nearly

s ix days to make the t r i p and I- walked th? f i f t h day in a

snowstorm and «as nearly frozen when I ran a^rose one of

my neighbors who took me home and kept me a l l ni*rht. The

following day, March 16, I continued on my way to my home-

stead* That very same day a young fellow came to me and

to ld me tha t he would work for me I f I would give him a

place to s leep and eat* ' I had no houee or anything but I /

I !had to go to Hennessey to get my things so the young fello^/

told me i f I would gat enough lumber he would build me a

place cheap* I borrowed/a team ani wagon and got enough

lumber for a lean-to atfed, roof, doors and window frames,

which cost me approximately ^12*00*

I s tar ted outi for Hennessey, leaving the young fellow

tov build the house/ with a borrowed team and plow* The young

fellow had nothing to do but build the house, he dug out a

place 12x14 up agains/t an embankment, eight feet to the east

four feet to the west* He dug out around a small piece of

earth in the center of the place, then he also lef t enough

ot the earth far a bench on the south side which was the

table andjleft enough earth for a bed* The wall was twelve

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K&H7SE, SDWARD A . INTERVIEW. ) 9 7 9 8

8

indies wide, the sod had to be broken out so that we

could lay the sod in blocks. When I came home I found the

house well put up and the young fellow told me to go in and

A»ee ay/house, i t was a l l furniahed* When I went in this i s

what I saw - two half windows, one door to the east, I went

to Medford and bou^t a Topsy stove. The young fellow and

I began to break sod, breaking twenty-three acres and al80

made a garden* The twenty-three acres were put into wheat*

The year of 1895 was a good wheat year which helped

ma quifo a bit* The two of us broke out forty acres that •

year and planted i t in wheat and made another large garden*

The reason the farm land was -So" rieh, especially the garden,

the Coral nes, the ranch owners, before the Strip was opened

had that part as a corral and the stable also joined i t ao x-_.

the ground was very fertile*

For two years X lived in this sod dugout with the

earth made bed, chair and table, then finally bought a bed,

springs and mattress* The earth bed was the f irst thing °

I dog out, then the bench was replaced by two chairs which

X picked up at a sale, then the table was replaced by one I

built*

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KRAOSS, EQtfARD A* INTERVIEW, 0 7 9 8

9

la the Spring of 1897, I built a 14x18 frame house;

the crops had been fair enough to afford better living

quarters, and December 11, 1897 I waB married to Mable T#

Lowery* My neighbors seemed to be very generous and help-

ful In many ways, visiting by the hours with one another*

There was one neighbor, Saul Temple, who was always good to

hie neighbors and not a kinder-hearted fellow could be

found, always willing to lend a helping hand to all who

asked* He was later aeouaed of being a thief for stealing

railroad ties and tools* He was arrested and the Judge would

not pat* sentence because that winter had been a real hard

winter and he said he would not sentence Saul* But the rail-

road company kept after him and finally Saul skipped the

"country but later cams baok to see his brother. Bd* The

sheriff, S9 D* Butts, borrowed a high powered rifle from

MeFerrin, the hardware owner, and they went out to Ed's and

asked if Saul was there. Sd said, "No", but Butts told Ed

he was going to search the house* They went in and looked

In behind the first door but did not look behind the second

door and Saul asked than kindly to hold up their hands and

to drop their guns* Ha took them all to the collar and

locked them in and escaped*

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KRAOSB, EDWARD A, • INTERVIEW, 9798 /

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I later went into business, running a livery stable

and in later yeare became very active in the political world.

Lst«rt I went into business as a w tehmaker in Renfrow v?here

I work at the watch business today.